Protarget review

[markmac]

Hi Simon, I shot a HFT event at Anston - first time out with the PT,shot 48 ex 60.I only have a Cleup 10 x 40 on medium mounts on at present - seems a decent enough combo for HFT.I didnt zero it up precisely as I didn't have enough time,just plinked a few targets on the zero range to set a roughish 35yd zero.I had previously downloaded a holdover/holdunder calculator from a US website to get a mil-dot calculation,which I taped to the inside of my front butler-creek for reference - worked pretty well - most misses were on the edge ,with one complete miss ,think I clipped a twig (thats my excuse anyway)- The close targets posed the biggest problems - as expected due to a highish sightline (1.8 inches above centre of barrel) I didnt trust the Mil-Dot calculation that indicated 6 dot holdover at 7 yds and paid the price for my mistrust.

I will be shooting at the Air Arms event at Bisley tomorrow - this time I will set up the zero properly.

I will let you know how I get on.

Cheers


Mac

[Gar73]

It was this review that really pointed me towards buying a 2nd hand pro-t. I ended up with a shortened mk2 version done by Hydrographics which is roughly the same in dimensions as a tactical. Its main role was to allow me to take part in the FT winter league.

I tried the rifle at 45 yards and over 5 shots off a bench I managed a 1/4" group which suprised me. I struggled with the rifle when I had a Nikko 10-50x60 on the rifle on kneelers and standers. I knew the best way to help myself was to put a lighter scope on the rifle along with a anschutz butt hook. I settled for a Bushnell Elite 4200 8-32x40. The scope arrived 1 day before the next winter league shoot, so on the Saturday I had to quickly get the distances/clicks sorted and windage which was difficult in very windy conditions. On the shoot day I managed my best ever score to date. I returned last Wednesday to check the rifle with more time on my hands everything was spot on apart from the windage and in still conditions it was shooting 1/4" to the left which I adjusted.

I have found 4.51 Daystate selects seem to work well in mine and over 60 shots I see a high of 794fps and a low of 778fps with unsorted pellets straight from the tin. If I ignore the 794 and the 778fps reading of which there is only one of each the high of 793 is the norm along with a low of 782fps. So a variation between highest and lowest of 11fps aint to bad from a rifle which is 10 years old in July.

The stock design is a pleasure to use and is very comfortable. The trigger is very good and is one of the other excellent points about the rifle. For a beginner there cant be many better buys into the world of FT and the amount of Pro-targets still doing the rounds with experienced shooters who put good scores in week in week out shows its still able to perform against the vast majority of FT rifles available.

Spot on review Simon. If thers any new shooters looking for a rifle Simons review of the Air Arms Pro-Target is a must read.

[rockdrill]

Nice set-up rockdrill, is that a 32 or 35x mk4?. I've just put a 32x on my Dominator and I'm really into it at the moment; though I'm currently shooting so well with my P70 and Deben I'm not going to change that frontline set-up at the moment. Do the mk4's shift much in the heat?

Simon,

This one on the Pro-Target is a 32x. My 35x is on my stainless steel GC2 outfit.

I have never had any shift on this scope in the 6 years I have owned it. The only time I needed to alter the range markings was when I took it off this rifle andput it on a different rifle and needed to adjust the windage by almost 3/4 of a turn, this caused the range marks to change. Other than that no problems at all.

One thing I do though is set the scope up in 'medium' light conditions preferably a bright overcast day so it isn't too dull or too glaringly bright and that seems to prevent any problems from developing.

Dale